Supplementary pension is increasingly becoming a family matter. There is an increasing number of parents who, in addition to thinking about their own supplementary pension position, open one for their children. The Covip report (the Pension Fund Supervisory Commission) tells us that in 2023, members (+3.7%) and resources (+9.1%) of pension funds increased in Italy and that the share of young people (under 35 ) it’s moving. From 17.6% in 2019 we have gone to 19.3% in 2023. But the generation gap remains and the gender gap remains even more so: out of ten members, there are fewer than four women.
The numbers. At the end of 2023 there were 9.6 million members, 3.7% more than in 2022. Almost 37% of employed people, therefore, chose supplementary pension provision. Practically half of the cases (47.8%) are people between 35 and 54 years old. And 32.9% are at least 55 years old. This is the generation gap. Where are the young people? Workers up to 34 years of age are still few: 19.3% in 2023. But they are increasing. And among these there is a large movement of very young people. Workers under 20 with a supplementary social security position went from 2.2% in 2019 to 2.6% in 2023. These are accesses to funds made by families, waiting for young people to then be able to pay independently. Parents who think about their children’s future.
Then there is the gender gap. More than 6 out of 10 members are men. They are 61.7% and reach 72.7% in trading funds. In the market forms, women reach 42.6% in open funds and 46.6% in PIPs (Individual Pension Plans).
Therefore, more members and also more resources and returns. Filming took place in 2023. The resources accumulated by the complementary funds exceeded 224 billion euros (an increase of 9.1% compared to 2022) which rise to 338 billion if the pension funds are included. It means 10.8% of the GDP and 4% of the financial assets of Italian families. The positive dynamic of the financial markets was certainly the driving force. Contributions collected have grown, reaching 19.2 billion euros. The average contribution of members is 2,810 euros. And in the year of the new push for social security contributions, returns also grew, recovering the losses of 2022. The best performance was recorded in the equity sectors, with returns for the year on average equal to 10.2% in occupational funds, all ‘11.3% in open funds and 11.5% in PIPs (Individual Pension Plans).
The future of supplementary pensions? We need more inclusion. Young people and women are still too little involved. And the social security risk is high for these categories. The solution also comes with the numbers from the Pension Fund Supervisory Commission: tax benefits. Today there is the deductibility of complementary social security contributions (up to 5,164.57 euros). But what if tomorrow there was an entry contribution into the early stages of work? Covip’s suggestion sounds a bit like the behavior of the many Italian families who, as we have seen, are taking action, opening a position for their children under 20.